Offices Held

Biography

Poole is to be distinguished both from his namesake who sat for Leicestershire in the Parliament of April 1554 and, more specifically, from his own uncle of Chelworth near Wootton Bassett. Like his brother Giles, he probably owed his start at court to his uncle Sir John Brydges.3

Although after his marriage he was to settle in Sussex, Poole had inherited an interest in Minety and Oaksey near Wootton Bassett, and as late as 1573 Giles Poole and Thomas Wroughton† conveyed to him the manor of Broad Hinton in the same neighbourhood, apparently by way of a mortgage. To his standing there and at court he could add his connexions, especially with his uncle Brydges, soon to be created Baron Chandos, and with his brother-in-law Edward Baynard†, sheriff of Wiltshire at the time of his election. Although a ‘Mr. Poole’ (possibly Giles) had earlier been in (Sir) John Thynne’s household it is unlikely that Thynne’s help was necessary. Poole was not among the Members who ‘stood for the true religion’ against the initial measures to restore Catholicism and 11 years later, when he had only just been placed on the Sussex bench, Bishop Barlow was to describe him as a ‘misliker of religion and godly proceedings’.4

By that time Poole had already settled at Ditchling, although it was not until 1576 that his brother-in-law Henry, 6th Lord Bergavenny, granted him a lease of the park there. He and his wife also held land in Keymer and elsewhere in Sussex and in 1568 he sold lands in Kent to Sir Henry Cheyne(y)†. Poole made his will on 28 Jan. 1580 and died on the following 28 Mar. Besides lands already mentioned, he left property in the Blackfriars, London, and a manor in Somerset. He bequeathed his best armour and a saddle to Lord Bergavenny and rings to various relatives and friends including Sir John Pelham† whom he named one of the overseers of the will. He was buried in Ditchling church, where in accordance with his wishes a mural monument was erected to his memory.5